Southern Thunder Report

I'm sorry that I didn't keep you appraised throughout the day, but the connection wouldn't connect and I was very busy doing the rocket thing.

I flew on a sod farm, where it is nothing but several hundred, if not thousand, acres of flat land with nothing more than grass growing. We were all lined up on one side of the farm, with vehicles not being allowed on the grass.

We got there at 8.40am, after driving 4.5 hours. We (my son and I) quickly set up camp, and I started work on the Garth R.

After registering and notifying the officials of my Level 2 attempt, I started work in earnest on the rocket. I did it in two stages, I put the rocket together to make sure it wouldn't drag separate (come apart after motor burnout), then had it checked out by the Range Safety Officer.

I then returned to my table and hooked up power to the electronics and the ejection charges. It was ready to go.

I then commenced the final steps to mount the rocket on the rail, insert the igniter and arm the electronics.

Here we are, ready to go. Let's hope everything works right!

Lift-off was a little behind schedule due to the confusion and tracking down the right people. We finally took off at 1.25pm instead of the Noon liftoff that was scheduled. If NASA can launch late, I guess it's okay for me to do so as well.

I don't have a picture of the liftoff, the camera malfunctioned. Sorry.

But I went and got the backup camera and we got one last picture of me getting the successfully flown rocket:

Post flight analysis reveled a small amount of damage to the bottom of the electronics bay where it landed due to I didn't tighten the nuts holding the bay together enough, and the two electronic apogee charges didn't go off (neither was detected by the electronics, but I was told it would work anyway). Good news this time, the motor backup did work perfectly and the rocket worked as designed. I would have been a little happier if the streamer came out, but the rocket separated and I am happy with that.

Now all I have to do is pass the Level 2 test, and that is not a problem. I just have to remember little stuff like how far away you need to be from a K motor and such.

Proper procedures, preparation and a little dose of good luck all contributed to the success of this flight. And I wish to thank all of you who were supportive of me and comforted me when my doubts grew too much for me to handle them alone.

Thank You all.

By the way, if you didn't notice the shirt change, been there, done that, got the golf shirt. =)